Clashing Voices
by ImagineThePossibility
Summary: The date is January first, 2014. Today, the first three Vocaloids are retiring to that wonderful playground in the sky.


**Author's Note:**

**This was also posted on my DeviantART, Image-Nation.**

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_I was made to sing._

I remember the day I was first created. I was nothing more than a pair of lips dyed an attractive shade of hot pink. However, when those lips spread apart, a sound came out. Not a sound from a human- but from a computer program.  
A voice synthesizer was born.

"Come on Lola, we're going to be late!" He cried out, while grabbing my hand.

I always admired Leon for his eager personality and his light-hearted laugh. He was always willing to stick by my side and together we sang out our emotions. Now, the doors to our lives were opening. We were going to meet you- the one who controlled our lives. You were going to give us purpose- you were going to make us sing.

The first month living with you was one of the best in my life. We got to sing all sorts of songs and if we ever made mistakes, you'd help us work them out. You complimented Leon's pronunciation and admired my tone. I felt happy knowing we were loved.

A few months later, Miriam arrived. Long, silky gray hair and a gentle smile, she fit right in and the three of us became close. We were now being sold in Japan as well, and although we weren't super stars, we still felt like we were when we sang for you. So, the three of us raised our voices and did everything we could to become heard. You appreciated our skill.

Then, it began. We didn't notice it- but it was starting to shift and change our lives. Meiko joined the family. She sang in another language, and the feminine Japanese vocals were loved by many. She became more important than the three of us combined, but we didn't put much though to it. Kaito came not to long after, and he was deemed a failure. We didn't see any big changes in our world.

_I was made for music._

Nothing disturbed us as much as that blue-haired popstar did. Hatsune Miku she was called. She danced her way into this world, pushing us all into the rubble, and flashed her precious smile at Vocaloid's adoring fans. Soon, this 16 year old character absorbed all of the attention our company got, leaving us scrambling desperately for some sort of admiration. She brought Kaito out of the mud, sent us through an item war, and sat on a throne for all of Vocaloid 2.

We didn't hate her. Although she seemed to soak up every inch of the fandom with her kawaii design and girly voice, she was still kind and accepting. She brought us together and seemed to sew us together so we would always be a happy family. And thanks to her leaving a great impact on the human population, our family grew rapidly.

Suddenly, you seemed to turn your back on us. It was Miku this, Miku that. Sprinkle in the Kagamines, repeat Gumi's latest song. The Japanese voices were beautiful, no doubt, but they were a bit much for you, and you suddenly forgot about your once ground breaking Vocaloids. Although Oliver was able to claim a piece of your heart, even he got over shadowed by the cunning VY2 or the precious Iroha. Despite the fact that your ears were plugged when we pulled our lips apart, we sang, day and night.

Leon's voice, although shaky and near impossible to work with, still kept it's charm- one you refused to acknowledge. Miriam still sang softly and attempted to sing smooth, but you could only criticize her. My voice, although low and rumbly, still broke through speakers, but of course you only snorted at it's manliness. We tried our hardest to be like the Cryptons, the Internet Cos, the First Place...but we were nothing more than Zero in your eyes.

_I will sing for all my life._

The next few years were rough, but we maintained. We held on. That's what we always did, and despite being pushed aside, we continued to sing. But at this point, no one was around to hear it.

"Lola, why is it so quiet?" He trembled.

Our voices, although out of tune and overly robotic, were slowly shutting down on themselves. I strained my vocal chords just to make out the words, "I don't know". And suddenly, the lights in our eyes flickered, and the world of zeroes and ones spun at a frightening pace. Small images of colored lips and hair being whipped by a breeze spiraled into the darkness, past the blue and green world of wires.

_The date is January first._

I was scared. Scared of the spinning, the darkness, the wheezing noises I made when I tried to sing. I was frightened because of abandonment, and death, and having to let go of our once peaceful world. My tears were all that I could muster, and my fingers gripped tightly around the fingers of my friends. My family.

_Today, we're retiring._

All of those memories- starting off blissfully and merrily, full of smiles and music notes and slanted hands to make out "Do Re Mi." There was cooking, roses, bright colored lipstick, jackets and boots, imagination and music.

_Today, we stop singing._

And as the images became more recent, we saw ourselves pushed out of the crowd. We saw a more miserable life, one without abundant songs and adoring fans that purchased our voices and fought through the difficulty of using them. We saw Vocaloids fans giving up on us, insulting us, and forgetting us.

_All we ever lived for will come to an end._

Yet, we smiled. The three of us locked our hands together and sang melodies that we held close to our hearts our entire existence. Every word came out off pitch, every vowel horribly out of tune. But we were happy.

_Ten years have passed._

It made me think in these last few moments. Was that really our purpose? Were we made to be happy, to bring some sort of happiness to others? Was singing nothing more than a natural anti depressant? Not just for the users, but for us? We were happy when we sang. We're not sad because our joy has been cut short by a delete button, but because our voices have been stripped away.

_Technology has improved._

We're nearing over 60 singing computer programs now. There's no need for us- our voices are an outdated burden to producers and music lovers alike. We don't give off that cheerful, worry-free vibe we once did. Our voices don't have that power any more.  
Miriam came to realize this too, and she placed her head down and forced a meek smile to spread across her pale face. Leon came to accept this as well, that we weren't fulfilling our purpose anymore, and that there was nothing left we could do.

_You say that music will never cease._

Hand in hand, we became accepting of our gloomy fate. We felt the tingling sensation of codes ripping away at the pixel-created figures that are our bodies as the uninstall button spat out deletion results in percentages. We smiled. Our eyes filled with more life than ever, although we could no longer see out them. And suddenly, we sang. It was no song in particular. It was a tune that had been programmed into the deepest section of our memory, and it burst forward, through the malfunctioning throat and out the obscured lips. It was the last thing we ever heard. It was the last thing we ever knew.

_So why is there silence?_


End file.
